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"I haven't been sleeping well."
"Is it that woman again? The one you thought was dead? Did you see her again?"
He frowned. "I wish I'd never told you about her. And, no, I haven't seen her again."
"But you're still thinking about her."
"Mind your own business, Em."
"You're my business. You're my brother." She cocked her head to one side as she studied his expression. "She meant something to you, didn't she?"
"I don't know what she meant to me. She died before we had a chance to find out."
"You've never told me what happened. Was she someone you were trying to rescue?"
"I did try to save her, but I wasn't on duty. I was just nearby when she was involved in a boat accident."
"I'm sorry." Despite Drew's claim that he didn't know what the woman meant to him, Emma knew that there was some kind of strong connection. Drew had been in the search and rescue business for a decade. He was hardened to accidents and even to death. He'd spent years building a hard shell around his heart. While it saddened her to see, she suspected that wall was what kept him from losing his sanity.
"I don't want to talk about her," Drew said.
"If you change your mind, I'm here. And I might be able to help."
"How could you help?"
"Well, I could help you take your mind off this woman by setting you up with one of my hot, single girlfriends."
He groaned. "No set-ups. I can get my own dates."
"I know you can, but you don't," she said pointedly. "You haven't brought a woman around the family in a long time."
"For good reason. I don't need you scaring them off with the third degree."
"I wouldn't do that."
He laughed. "Sure you would."
"I care about you, Drew. You've had some rough years. I know you won't talk about them, so I'm not going to ask. But I want to see you happy, maybe even settle down with someone, have a long term relationship."
"Just because you're engaged you want everyone else to be matched up."
"Okay, that's sort of true, but not completely."
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"You always say that."
"Because it's true."
"Well, if you're not going to have a social life, then I guess you'll be one less sibling who needs to bring a guest to my wedding."
"No way. I'm not coming solo to your wedding. You'll put me at the singles table. I'll bring someone."
"Who?" she asked with a challenging smile.
"I don't know yet."
"Well, you have almost five months to figure it out," she said on her way out the door.
Chapter Four
Drew followed Aiden and Burke to the marina just after three o'clock in the afternoon. He'd opted to take his own car, so he wouldn’t have to drive all the way back to his parents house. And he'd also wanted to have a few minutes to think about what he might be about to commit to.
It had been a long time since he'd done something with Burke and Aiden, and this would be a good opportunity to reconnect. But a boat? He'd always been about planes, then helicopters. He'd spent some time on carriers in the Navy, but that was just in between flights.
He'd certainly never thought of himself as a boat owner. But why not? It could be fun—something different, something to take his mind off the woman who haunted his dreams every night.
Shaking that thought out of his head, he turned into the crowded parking lot by the marina. The morning's storm had completely disappeared and the sun was bright in the sky, bringing out the locals and the tourists. After squeezing his black SUV into a compact parking spot, he got out of the car and walked toward the Bayview Yacht Club. Aiden and Drew were waiting for him on the sidewalk.
They walked down the dock together. The boat bobbed gently in the water in a slip at the far end of the marina, a beautifully proud and a little weathered thirty-foot sailboat.
They hopped on board and walked around. Drew hadn’t been on the boat in years, but as he took a quick look downstairs at the galley and sleeping berth, he flashed back on some happy daytrips with his grandfather at the helm, and his dad showing him how to rig the sails.
"It's not in bad shape," Burke said, as Drew came up the stairs. "What does the interior look like?"
